The Chalkboard
by hhah
Summary: There was only one person in this dinky little coffee shop that Sanji wanted to notice him. But even he wasn't foolish enough to think that there was any way that this chalkboard idea wouldn't backfire on him. Modern AU. ZoroxSanji.


When his manager first pitched the idea, Sanji had thought it was ridiculous but kept his mouth shut.

The chalkboard was meant to help the customers know who was serving them and encourage good employee to customer communication. He had thought that was fucking stupid since they had name tags and most of the people who came in here didn't give a shit about who they were anyway. Half of them didn't even make eye contact-_especially in the early mornings_-and simply threw their correct amount of cash on the counter after gurgling their drink order. He didn't see a point in letting people who didn't give a shit get to know him.

Well.. There was one guy that he _might_ _just maybe_ want to notice him.. But he wasn't foolish enough to think that there was any way that this chalkboard idea wouldn't backfire on him.

Sanji had gone through a rather nasty sexuality crisis a few months back, including not being able to get it up for a girl in bed and having a strange _not-really-one-night-stand_ with a man in a gay bar. In the end it had led to him realizing that he was gay and just held a very high appreciation for women. The first month after that strange encounter in the gay bar had been hard on him, but he was slowly living with it and coming out to people around him.

To his surprise not many people were, well, _surprised_.

His foster father and his best friends had all given him a knowing look and mentioned his lack of girlfriends despite his demanding stance that he loved women through all these years. It had burned him deep in his chest but since he already accepted that he wasn't as straight as he thought he was-he let it go. No matter how much he wanted to inside that they were wrong.. When he mentioned it in passing to his coworkers at the coffee shop he worked part time at to make some extra pocket change to buy clothes-that had given him the most surprising reaction of all.

While his friends and family had seemed to always know, his fellows at the coffee shop had seemed... _ecstatic_.

Which led him back to his current problem.

The chalkboard and that one guy he _just maybe_ wanted to notice him.

Sanji's face was burning as he thought about the man and tried very, very hard not to glance behind him at the obnoxious chalkboard. Meant to encourage good customer to employee communication his _ass_. The chalkboard was only brought into existence to mock his own.

On a normal day the board would read the baristas name, a short fact about them, and a drink recommendation. It was Sanji's first time using the chalkboard and when he'd gone to write on it his coworker had assured him that the boys in the back had taken care of it for him and sent him out to man the front.

He thought nothing of it and had chalked it up to one less thing that he needed to do..

Until the first customer walked in, glanced at the board, at him and giggled behind her expensive purple scarf. Sanji had blanched and known something was wrong. He slowly turned, and stared hard at the chalkboard. His blood ran cold as he took in the horrific white letters and crudely drawn stick figure version of himself.

The offensive board read:

**TODAY YOUR BARISTA IS:**

1. Hella fucking Gay.

2. Desperately single.

**FOR YOUR DRINK TODAY I RECOMMEND**:

You give me your number.

The first thing that ran through his mind was not that if his manager walked in and saw it that he would get in trouble for the language and desperate attempt to get laid. It wasn't even how ugly they had made his little chalk figure version of himself, or how the girl in front of the counter was still giggling as she told Sanji her order and he blankly took it and went to make her drink in a daze.

It was the total humiliation and embarrassment as the one customer he actually liked in this hell hole walked in like clockwork for his morning coffee.

Every morning at eight thirty _He_ walked in. Every god damn morning. He would stride in with his green hair, strong broad shoulders, thick legs and tone arms. The first time Sanji had seen him he had accidently knocked over the cup he was starting to pour coffee into-but thankfully he hadn't actually had a chance to pour the steaming hot liquid just yet. Sanji remembered that first encounter like that first night he realized he was gay.

It was a startling rush that made his cock twitch in his pants.

His name was Roronoa, or at least that was what he said when Sanji had asked-practically begged-for his name to attach to his order. His name was Roronoa and from the look of him and the headphones around his neck, he really liked music. He really liked music and he had a horrible fashion sense-and normally Sanji would care about that but he had been so lost in the expansion of his neck and his dark eyes that he couldn't bring himself to really care about his ripped jeans and Wal-Mart brand off white t-shirt.

He had ordered a white chocolate mocha, the same thing he ordered every day after, and the first thing out of Sanji's mouth wasn't the standard "_coming right up_". Instead he had blurted out how green his hair was which caused the customers eyebrow to twitch and an insult about Sanji's eyebrow to spew from those perfect lips.

Their relationship from them on out had been pretty straight forward.

Roronoa would come in, they would insult one another, he would order a white chocolate mocha, and Sanji would be stuck staring at his ass with a dreamy expression as he left-no matter how many customers were currently waiting in line behind him. It continued almost the same way every day, which was why Sanji knew that Roronoa was going to rip him a new one at that embarrassing chalkboard message. If the damn man didn't come in like clockwork, Sanji would have had a chance to erase and wipe the message away _before_ he got here.

He heard the deep chuckle as he finished up Violet's drink order and handed it over. He told her to have a good day in a weak voice before glancing back to his current patron with a displeased face.

Roronoa on the other hand had a bright grin on his face like a kid who'd just been given the Christmas present he'd been longing for. Sanji's stomach dropped down into his stomach. He opened his mouth to ask him what he'd like to drink today-_despite already knowing the answer_-when the moss colored customer cut him off.

"Desperately single?" He asked in that deep voice that caused a shudder to run through him. "You throwing yourself at every guy who breaths at you?"

The blondes face turned down into a grimace. He turned to begin making Roronoa's drink order, without actually being told what he wanted, as he thought about ignoring the insulting tone in his voice. This was a normal thing between them, he should just act like it was a joke. It would be less humiliating if he acted like this was just a joke that one of his coworkers had played on him instead of true facts about his personal life.

Even if they _were_ painfully true.

"What's it to you, mosshead?" He snapped, working over the machines behind the bar to craft the other mans drink in the way that he knew he liked the best. "That shits just some prank one of my dumbfuck coworkers is playing on me."

"So that's not true?" Roronoa asked, and Sanji thought he heard genuine curiosity in his voice.

"Of course it's not true," He lied back to him, glancing over his shoulder and taking note that he was wearing a black Wal-Mart t-shirt today instead of his normal white one. If anything this one seemed skin tight and Sanji had to resist the urge to bite his lip.

The green haired man made a curious sound in the back of his throat, smirked and rubbed his chin in thought.

"That's a bit disappointing," He said, in a voice that could have been mistaken for teasing if there wasn't _something_ else there. "I was thinking that the description up there fit someone I was looking for."

Sanji almost dropped the half made drink and, staring wide eyed from behind his bangs at the other man.

"You-You go for desperate men?" He asked in a weak voice, though the real question he should be asking was _you're gay?_

A rich laugh left Roronoa's lips as he shook his head. Sanji swallowed hard to wet his now dry throat as he hurried to complete his drink in an embarrassed rush, almost forgetting to add the whip cream. He couldn't forget that, that was Roronoa's favorite part!

"No.." He finally continued after a slightly long stretch of silence. "I was more thinking about that gay and single part."

Setting the canister of whip cream back in the fridge, Sanji turned and glanced over at Roronoa with hopeful eyes. The smirk had never left the tan man's face, he simply cast his eyes at the floor in a move that would have been considered bashful on anyone else.

"Too bad it's just a prank.."

"It's not a prank!" Sanji shouted, feeling himself internally groan as admitted it. He bit back the shame and embarrassment and set Roronoa's order down in the bar top a little too hard. "Not-_all_ of it."

"What _is_ a prank then?" Roronoa asked with a quirked brow and an amused look on his face as he stuffed his hands deep into his pockets.

The barista mulled that question over. He needed to find a way to say this and hopefully get the best outcome. He wasn't sure if this guy was being sincere or just fucking with him like always, but maybe he had been wrong about this damn chalkboard. Maybe this wouldn't backfire on him. Maybe this was a good fucking idea.

"I'm not _desperate_."

Roronoa's laughter was louder this time as he fished something out of his pocket and tossed it onto the counter with the cash for his drink that Sanji had forgotten to collect. He grabbed his cup as Sanji's eyes wandered down to the card near the bills. He picked it up slowly, eyes glancing back to see that perfect ass heading for the door. This time he didn't stop the urge to bite his lip before quickly looking back at the card in his hand.

It was a business card to a music shop that he knew Luffy went to frequently. A business card for Roronoa Zoro and it included his stores number as well as a personal number. Sanji didn't know if someone was actually meant to put their personal number on their business card but right now he couldn't give less of a fuck.

His eyes widened for a moment as something occurred to him.

"Is your first name Roronoa?" He called out, feeling like Luffy had actually mentioned knowing some man who kept to himself whose name was Zoro. But it couldn't be. The world wasn't that fucking small.

"It's Zoro, you shit barista!" Roronoa-no, _Zoro_ laughed back, the jingle of the front bell punctuating his sentence as he walked out. Sanji's heart was pounding in his chest a mile a minute.

Knowing his coffee shop crushes real name, getting his number, finding out he just might be interested-Sanji had to take back his precious assessment.

That chalkboard idea was fucking genius.

* * *

**Notes**: This fic was based on an image on tumblr. If you've seen the picture you'll know what I'm talking about, but you don't really _need_ to see the photo to understand the fic. May do another little oneshot to go with this, but as of right now it's standing alone.

-**EDIT**: I think my note was confusing! The image I'm talking about isn't fanart at all, it was literally a picture of a chalkboard with the same "offensive board" message that was written on Sanji's. Sorry for the confusion!


End file.
